Blamer in Chief Obama

Obama Email to Supporters: If I Lose, It’s Your Fault
by Ben Shapiro 26 Aug 2012

Today, President Obama sent out a campaign email essentially blaming his supporters if he loses. See, he’s supposedly being outspent. And because he’s supposedly being outspent, he’s losing. And he can’t spend more money unless his supporters fork it over.
This is the campaign version of Obama’s entire economic argument: he can’t fix the economy unless he spends more money. And unless we give him more money, he can’t spend it. So if the economy fails, it’s our fault.
Here’s the perverse logic:
Last week, when I was in Iowa, voters told me they were feeling it. The numbers back it up: Our side is getting outspent 2-to-1 on the air there.
But the folks asking me about this don’t want an explanation — they want to know what I’m going to do about it.
And the fact is that solving this problem is up to you ….
We’re losing this air war right now.
I don’t have as much time to campaign this time as I did in 2008, so this whole thing is riding on you making it happen.

Perhaps the most laughable aspect of this latest desperate missive is Obama’s assertion that he doesn’t have “as much time to campaign this time as I did in 2008.” He’s done nothing but campaign since the beginning of the year. From January to mid-June, Obama held more than 160 fundraisers. During that same period in 2004, President George W. Bush had held just 79 fundraisers.
Here’s the sad fact for Obama: nobody’s enamored with him anymore. His spendthrift ways haven’t just bankrupted the country – they’ve bankrupted his campaign. And he still blames everyone else.
h/t wbboei

Methinks that unless Obama’s tenure in the WH was a mega FAIL, he could just run on his record. /snark
I’m sure he would spend millions to seal his record as President if he could, but he can’t so he’s all wee wee’d up and blaming everyone else.

It burns my oatmeal every time I hear a Democrat proclaim their pro-women creds. We remember all too vividly their attacks on women in general and two women in particular: Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin.
And we will never forget. I sincerely believe the primary reason fauxgressive boiz support women’s reproductive rights, specifically abortion, is because they would be involved and held responsible for their unplanned progeny. The secondary reason is to win support for Teh Once. If they actually supported women they would be campaigning for the ERA; equal pay for women, equal access to all levels of power and governance, etc.

Cinie had the best list, including links, that I’ve read listing the vile attacks on women by Democrats in 2008. I’m unable to provide Cinie’s list because my computer bit the dust and I haven’t been able to replace it yet. But I will provide the following:
wbboei (again), recently listed some of the things Matthews spewed about Hillary:

“… what this same Obama surrogate said about Hillary in the 2008 campaign:

“I hate her. I hate her. All that she stands for.“ “She Devil“ • “Nurse Ratched•“ “Madame Defarge•“ “Witchy•“ “Anti-male•“ “[U]ppity•“ “She’s going to tell us what to •do.“ “Her scolding manner in terms of her public speaking•“ “[L]et’s talk about the troops …Will they take the orders?•“ [D]oesn’t she know she looks like a fraud?•“ Look at those eyes. Look at the cold eyes that she’s giving him. Look at that cold look.“ • [L]ike a strip-teaser saying she’s flattered by the all the attention On Sen. Clinton’s endorsers: “•“castratos in the eunuch chorus•“ “Let me tell you how short Hillary’s leash is. “•“ Is she a convincing mom? On Sen. Clinton’s laugh: “•“ What do you make of the cackle?•“ [S]he’s clapping, like she’s Chinese. I know the Chinese clap at each other, but what is she clapping at? I mean, it’s like one of these wind-up things. “•“ [S]he was giving a campaign barn-burner speech, which is harder to give for a woman; it can grate on some men when they listen to it — fingernails on a blackboard, perhaps.•“ “Is there, out there in the country or out in the Atlantic Ocean, some gigantic monster — big, green, horny-headed, all kinds of horns coming out, big, aggressive monster of anti-Hillaryism that hasn’t shown itself: it’s based upon gender …•“ “[B]eing surrounded by women, does that make a case for commander in chief — or does it make a case against it?•“ “Is she hemmed in by the fact that she’s a woman and can’t admit a mistake, or else the Republicans will say, ‘Oh, that’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind,’ or ‘another fickle woman’? Is her gender a problem in her ability to change her mind?•“ “[T]he reason she’s a U.S. senator, the reason she’s a candidate for president, the reason she may be a front-runner is her husband messed around.•“ “She may have gotten The Des Moines Register’s endorsement the other day, thanks to her husband’s lobbying with its female editors.”

… and that was just Matthews!

I am reading that sexist/misogynist Chris Tingles is still depending on accusations of “raaaaacism” to shut down any and all criticisms of his mancrush. I can’t help but wonder if Matthews and fauxgressives voted for Jesse Jackson, Shirley Chisholm, or Al Sharpton when each of them campaigned for the office of the Presidency. And why didnt they vote Green since the Green presidential nominee was black, and a woman, and her running mate was a woman of color.
After all, nothing else mattered but to elect an African American president in order to prove they/we weren’t raaaaacist. It didnt occur to them that they could “prove” they werent racist nor sexist with a single vote. Or it did occur to them but it just didnt matter.

I will point out that Jackson, Chisholm, and Sharpton are actually African-Americans, as we in the US understand and use the term, while Obama is actually Kenyan-American, absent a lineage tracing back to the 80 year period of slavery in the US.

Oh! and by the way:
Thanks to Judicial Watch, we no longer have to wonder whether or not the White House was directly and repeatedly involved in pressing the CIA and Department of Defense to give insider, classified details about the mission to kill Bin Laden

Meanwhile…some fresh air…

Dr. Jill Stein

Jill Stein for President

Dr. Jill Stein – 2012

Mia Love addresses the RNC Convention

WE’RE NOT COMING HOME!

August 6th, 2012
‘NObama’ Say Hillary Clinton Voters

Scott Conroy reports that Mitt Romney sees opportunity and a chance to win in Pennsylvania. A Republican winning Pennsylvania is supposed to be “unpossible” according to the Ralph Wiggums’ of Big Media. But maybe not.

The “maybe not” might be due to Hillary Clinton voters. Why Hillary Clinton voters?:

“For a striking number of Democrats, May 31, 2008, is a day that lives in infamy. It marked the moment that the national party’s rules committee dealt a deathblow to Hillary Clinton’s bid to win the presidential nomination over Barack Obama.

The committee, weighted with Obama loyalists, issued a unanimous decision amid whispered back-door deals.

The date “will not be forgotten,” according to Gayle Allegro, a Democrat from Pine Island, Fla. – which is why Allegro was frosted by last week’s announcement that Bill Clinton will be the keynote speaker at the Democrats’ national convention next month.

“If Obama and his crew think that having Bill Clinton give a speech is going to sway all the Democrats that left the party in 2010 or just slipped into the shadows, they are mistaken,” she said.

“Do they really think we are that stupid, that we don’t see what is going on?”

::::snip:::::

“Further behind the eight-ball” is a polite way of putting it. Even the New York Times noticed Obama’s shrinking coffers. If this keeps up it’s not only his coffers that will continue to shrink. Don’t expect Hillary Clinton voters to come to the rescue.”

continue reading at hillaryis44.com

h/t Myiq2xu

Just skip the expenses of your celebratory events … weddings, baptisms, birthdays, graduations, and send the money to Obama instead!
Wanna bet the obama android cult is lining up to sell their blood, kidneys, and any other extraneous organs they can sell?

Obama Shoots Off His Mouth
by Michael Goodwin
June 3, 2012

Panic is never pretty. When it involves a politician scrambling desperately to stay afloat, it is ugly. When it involves a president of the United States trading national-security secrets for political gain, it is obscene.

Twice last week, The New York Times published insider accounts of Obama-administration decisions. One involved “kill lists” of terrorists targeted by drones. The other described cyber-warfare attacks against Iran.

The articles revealed details of top-level meetings and quoted the president’s comments. They were so gushingly favorable to him that it’s clear they were based on authorized leaks by the White House designed to make Obama look tough against terror. Flattery was part of the bargain.

So we learned the president insists on giving final approval to each target, a “grim debating society” that tests his “principles.” We learned he “is a student of writings on war by Augustine and Thomas Aquinas” and follows the “just war theories of Christian philosophers.” Adviser John Brennan, described as a “grizzled” son of Irish immigrants, is compared “to a priest whose blessing has become indispensable” to Obama.

Naturally, campaign guru David Axelrod attends these “Terror Tuesday” meetings. Not that politics is involved, of course.

This is more than an unseemly spiking of the football. This is reckless politicking that reflects an his “anything goes” approach to November: Nothing is sacred except four more years.

The Times also outed Israel as our partner in launching the Stuxnet virus against Iran’s nuclear computers. While the United States and Israel were long suspected, the article shredded any deniability.

The Allies broke German military codes in World War II, but it remained secret until the 1970s. Now our president leaks secrets in real time.

The Times says the virus program, code named Olympic Games, started under President George W. Bush and was an effort to stop Iran from getting the bomb. While Bush “had little credibility,” the Times says, Obama “concluded that when it came to stopping Iran, the United States had no other choice.”

See, when Bush does it, it’s bad; when Obama does it, it’s good. Give the Times a gold star for its campaign contribution.

The paper also hinted that one or more Iranian technicians helped introduce the virus into the computers.

I asked Rep. Pete King, the GOP chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, if he saw anything wrong with the leaks. King had plenty to say:

“It’s a pattern that goes back two years, starting with the Times Square bomber, where somebody in the federal government, probably the FBI, leaked his name before he was captured. That’s why he tried to leave the country — he knew they were on to him.

“They did it with the movie about Osama bin Laden, leaking all kinds of operational details that are supposed to remain secret and setting up the producer with a member of the SEALs. They mentioned we had DNA, which is how the Pakistanis focused on the doctor they arrested.

“And now this. It’s like two press releases coming from the Oval Office. It’s unheard of. It puts our people at risk and gives information to the enemy. And it gives our allies a reason not to work with us because what they do might show up on the front page of The New York Times.”

King said it was “amateur hour” in the White House, and it surely is. But this is more than inexperience.

These authorized leaks go to the heart of integrity and presidential character. With the economy stuck in stall and with even leading Democrats bucking their attacks on Mitt Romney, Obama and Axelrod appear ready to abandon all principles in a frenetic quest for victory.

It is shocking, and it is June. One can only imagine the outrages they will unleash in the coming months to preserve their hold on power.

CNN) — President Barack Obama strongly rejected claims Friday that his White House has deliberately leaked state secrets to the media, saying the idea was “offensive” and would put Americans at risk.

Some Republicans, led by veteran Sen. John McCain of Arizona, alleged that the White House must be knowingly involved because of the nature of the leaked information.
But Obama pushed back angrily as he was questioned on the issue at a news conference, saying that he had “zero tolerance” for such leaks and that those responsible would “suffer consequences.”

“The notion that the White House would purposely release classified national security information is offensive, it’s wrong, and people, I think, need to have a better sense of how I approach this office and how the people around me approach this office,” he said.

“We are dealing with issues that can touch on the safety and security of the American people — our families or our military or our allies — and so we don’t play with that.”
Intelligence leaks are a source of consistent frustration for his administration as they have been for others, he said, and the White House will carry out “thorough investigations.”

In response, McCain said Obama was distancing himself from the controversy.
“What the president did not unequivocally say today is that none of the classified or highly sensitive information recently leaked to the media came from the White House,” McCain said. “I continue to call on the president to immediately appoint a special counsel to fully investigate and, where necessary, prosecute these gravely serious breaches of our national security.”

A report in The New York Times last week that provided classified details of what it described as a U.S cyberattack targeting Iran’s nuclear centrifuge program sparked the bipartisan outrage.

Obama also repeated the statements made by the writers of the articles in question that the White House was not the source of their information.

Other recent possible leaks of classified information included details on the administration’s efforts to expand its drone program and Obama’s involvement in “kill lists” against militants in Yemen and Pakistan.

The public airing of details surrounding a recently disrupted bomb plot in Yemen by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula also angered intelligence and national security officials.

Congressional leaders said earlier Friday that those responsible for endangering national security by leaking classified information to the media should be sent to jail.

Continues here

Jon Stewart’s take on MainStreamMedia reporting the Wisconsin Recall election:

From HillaryIs44.org :
Run Quaddafi Run – Quit Obama Quit – How To Run Obama Out Of Town

Strap your Pink Grenades On!

It was the most important story of the day and we hoped to discuss it and give it the attention it deserves. Today thanks to Republican/conservative website HotAir, the time is ripe for such a discussion.

In April of 2010, PUMA P.A.C. discussed the Big Pink strategy for the 2012 elections.
Our strategy, as stated then, is simple, elegant, effective:

“While we don’t think Hillary Clinton will directly challenge Obama for the nomination in 2012, we do think it is the job of sensible Democrats and smart Hillary supporting websites to drive Obama from the 2012 race. It is also the job for American citizens who care about the country.”
In our inaugural article of 2011 we restated the strategy:

“In 2012 things will be a lot better – after November – if we do our jobs right. Let’s get the job done in 2011 and drive Obama out to a life of retirement at the Rezko house. That’s enough Hope and Change for now, isn’t it?”
Read the rest here.

From the birthplace of the term PUMA.
From Riverdaughter
Before Obama takes credit for the end of Qaddafi’s reign in Libya…
Posted on August 20, 2011 by riverdaughter
Let’s remember who had to drag Obama kicking and screaming to enforce a no-fly zone to keep up the momentum of the Arab Spring uprisings:
“As the United States and allies began their airstrike against Libya over the weekend, several news outlets reported on the growing tension between Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was allegedly annoyed that the president had been taking so long to commit to a plan in Libya. “Obviously, she’s not happy with dealing with a president who can’t decide if today is Tuesday or Wednesday, who can’t make his mind up,” a friend of madame secretary told The Daily’s Josh Hersh, whose delicious March 17 piece on Clinton’s frustrations is a must-read. The source continued, “And she doesn’t have any power. She’s trying to do what she can to keep things from imploding.”

Dakinikat at Skydancing
Live Blog: Breaking News in Libya
You may not have heard the news from Libya, but it appears that Rebel and NATO forces have entered Tripoli and it may mean the end for Ghaddafi. Most of the sources I’ve found are coming from the foreign press and are being tweeted.

From UppityWoman: Your government – power hungry,out of control and just plain mean: It’s not just in DC anymore.
Posted on August 20, 2011 by Uppity Woman
Hunger For Power.
It rolls downhill and touches your lives in the most ridiculous of ways. Because when power hungry people go unchecked, they can’t stop looking for ways to punish and control you. Power Hungry people are insatiable.
Please read these little stories and tell me that your government, right in your own county, town, or city isn’t out of control, power-hungry, and treating itself like it is YOUR customer.
Continued here.

Yesterday, at The Confluence, commenter Joanie in Brooklyn, on August 18, 2011 at 11:03 am said:
“Good Morning, RD, since I don’t have to worry about being called racist: I’m Black and by definition can’t be racist (snark) let me say I didn’t like him in ’08, like him even less now; didn’t think he was smart in ’08, can prove he’s not smart now; thought he was teleprompter champion in ’08, know he’s inarticulate now; found his phony “black, southern” twang condescending and demeaning in 08, find his be-bop home-boy strut even more annoying now; didn’t know what the hell he stood for in 08, know he stands for nothing now.
Any white people reading this comment and agree but don’t want to be called racist, just say “what Joanie said”. Amen, thank you Jesus.”

If you voted for Obama in 2008 to prove you are not a racist…
You’ll have to vote for someone else in 2012 to prove you’re not an idiot.

DRAFT HILLARY
Send your request for Hillary to run for the Presidency to Hillary with or without a contribution of $20.12 to:
Hillary R. Clinton, c/o Friends of Hillary, 1900 M Street NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20036
(This is the same address used by long time Hillary supporters “No Limits”.)
Sign the petition to draft Hillary:
Click here!


Thanks to the generosity of CasperCat, PumaPac is now offering BOTH free “DRAFT Hillary” and “Hillary 2012″ standard size bumperstickers, as seen above, to PUMAs and other supporters of a Hillary Presidency.

Thank you, Caspie!

Please send two first class stamps to:
ModemButterfly, 1442 Essex Street, Suite 4, San Diego, CA 92103
(Allow 2 weeks for delivery and please print your return address legibly.)

Hope for change in 2012!

Below is a post that explains Who We Are. This is a short post to explain WHY we are.

There are THREE abiding reasons for the Puma Movement. They don’t change with the daily headlines:

1. The leadership of the Democratic Party proved itself corruptible to the questionable influences and tactics of the Obama Movement. They ignored the outcome of the Primaries and installed their preferred nominee for president. This will NEVER sit right with us.
2. The sheer size and scope of the Obama Movement, and — crucially, the uncritical, even PROMOTIONAL response of the mainstream media to his ascendancy should be enough to give any citizen pause. We need a skeptical, honest, unbiased press in this country to protect us from the power and influence that a $750 million dollar marketing campaign can buy. The Puma Movement began as a direct response to the Obama Movement. Our aims are truer and our goals are pure: unbiased media coverage of candidates, a skeptical criticism of those in power, and politicians and public officials who treat voters AND our votes with the respect we deserve.
3. Non-stop, ever-present, often overwhelming sexist and misogynistic treatment of women in public life — from the media, to the major political parties, to the biggest and most influential blogs and new media forums. From Hillary and Chelsea Clinton to Sarah and Bristol Palin. From Michelle Obama to Sonia Sotomayor to Carrie Prejean. Women, no matter what their political beliefs or personal choices or lifestyles, are ALWAYS judged (and usually negatively judged) on their looks, their clothing styles, their maternal performances, and their general attractiveness as bedmates or wives. Until we can stanch the reach of this Swamp Misogyny, there will NEVER be a woman president in the United States. There will NEVER be gender parity on the Supreme Court or in Congress.

To recap: The THREE permanent reasons for WHY we need a Puma Movement are:

1. Corruption in politics
2. Corruption in the media
3. Sexism and misogyny in our public institutions

There are also changing, developing, and temporary or recurring reasons why we need a Puma Movement:

1.  The stock market went WAY down again today. The economy and how our leaders react to it and guide it are crucially important to understand, analyze, and critique if we mean to be active, thinking citizens. What issues are of importance to us: jobs, opportunities, fair play. 
2. May has been the deadliest month in Iraq in months. Pakistan is exploding. North Korea is declaring war on South Korea. The misogynistic FREAKS of Islam in Afghanistan continue their brutal oppression of women EVERY DAY.
3. Obama has nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Our job is to, while being very pleased to see a qualified woman nominated, also criticize, analyze, and research her background and views. AND to discuss them in the spirit of our movement — equal opportunities for women, non-sexist critique, and open, transparent, and honest politics.
4. Whatever fresh hell the Obama Movement serves up new every day.

So, if you agree with WHY we need a Puma Movement, read the below to find out Who We Are. 

And JOIN US!

Frequently Asked Question: “Can I be a Puma if I’m a Republican?”

Answer: Who you vote for or how you like to think of yourself politically is up to you — this really IS a free country. I can’t say that a person who is registered as a Republican can’t be a Puma. Of course they can,

BUT — does it make any sense?

If you are a Republican who supports the Constitution and rejects the concept of classes of citizens; AND (not or) embraces the truth that the state has ABSOLUTELY ZERO legitimate stake in when, where, and how American citizens choose to bear or beget children (Supreme Court: Griswold, 1973); AND (not or) is fundamentally opposed to the tenets and belief systems of ANY religion being established in state or federal law or policy (including all flavors of Christianity),

then, hell yeah — you’re a Puma.

• You think there should be NO path to citizenship for illegal immigrants now in the country? Fair enough. That’s a valid, debatable position– expect to be disagreed with and to listen to opposing points of view that are equally valid.
• You think we are over-taxed and under-served by our government? Super. Me too — what do we DO about that is a legitimate, important debate for citizens to have with each other in a civil manner.
• You think the leadership of the Democratic party is lazy at best and corrupt at worst? Cool — so do we. But we also know that the Republican leadership is at least as bad.

So, it’s not so important what the letter is on your voter registration card. What really matters is how you respond to the above.

From Our Mission page: Our mission is to hold our elected officials accountable to the will of the voters, and to demand unbiased coverage from the media of all candidates, regardless of their gender.

Last year the Democratic Party leadership led us astray.

• Ignoring the Popular Vote in the Primaries
• Disenfranchising tens of millions of Democrats in Florida and Michigan
• Standing by idly as sexist attacks hobbled an accomplished and historic candidate for President
• Dismissing whole states and voting blocs as “irrelevant” to an imaginary “new” coalition

 From our Year of the Puma 2009 page: Puma PAC is in this for the long haul. Our Action Teams are working non-stop in six major areas:

• Passing the Equal Rights Amendment after 86 years of struggle
• Monitoring the 111th Congress and advocating for legislation that supports our mission
• Documenting and Protesting sexism in the mainstream media AND educating the public about its widespread and long term effects
• Developing a national women’s rights curriculum for all American children
• Researching and investigating voter fraud and campaign finance violations during the 2008 election
• Protecting women’s lives by strengthening anti-femicide laws and drawing attention to the crisis of woman-lynching in the United States

Our mission and goals haven’t changed much since Day One, June 3d 2008. Circumstances have changed; events have moved us and forced us to rethink and regroup on particular issues. Proposition Hate in California wasn’t really on our radar last summer, but now it is.  For all those wondering What We Stand For and Why, try this:

• Constitutional issues, like equal rights and individual freedoms, are not left or right issues.
• Each political party tries to own some subset of issues and use them as an arsenal to pull people to their side and attack the other side.
• You may believe the left is actually committed to lesbian rights, reproductive freedom, and peace. We don’t.
• And we KNOW the right is not committed to the above.
• Who cares what either of the parties claim to stand for anymore? It’s all utter hogwash. I’m interested in what individual people think about issues; about talking to and listening to how individual people are reacting to politics.
• Why always this push for ideology? How would ideology benefit us?
• Does anyone actually believe that someone is keeping score? That life is a macro-debate of issues and that one ideology will eventually emerge as the undisputed winner? That we somehow “owe it” to some amorphous set of values and beliefs to be “true” to them? To fight for the side of right?
• A very small set of men are competing with each other every hour of every day for dominance. ideology is nothing more than the color of the uniforms on the people fighting in each army.

Also, anyone who appears to really truly BELIEVE the talking points of either side is either

1. a cynical liar — a lieutenant whose job is to fire up the troops.
2. not too bright. 

The first should be ignored and disdained.
The second should be ignored and/or reasoned with to see if they can come to the light.

Also, I’m not so sure there are “major differences in the core values of those who would select one party over the other as the best reflections and hope to have those values reflected in policy,” as some say. Take out the homophobes and the sexists, as we (sometimes imperfectly) do, and I think we’re left with a (very) big group of people who are trying to sort out reality from talking points and ideology. And there are PRECIOUS little resources for people like us to do that. Where are we going to look? Fox News?? MSNBC?? the Blogger BOIZ?? So we look on the internet and stumble here or other places that are attempting to criticize and analyze politics and society as it is practiced by the homophobic, sexist, corrupt, corporatist, war-profiteering, insincere, lying jackasses who rule and the So Called Free Press that props them up.

• What DO we do about illegal immigration?
• The 40+ million uninsured Americans?
• Unjust, imperialist wars?
• Presidents who trample on the Constitution?
• A Congress bought and paid for by corporations?
• Maniac islamicists who terrorize women and anyone who gets in their way?
• A culture so inherently sexist that Hillary Clinton was not even allowed to run for President, never mind win?

The left AND the right have ready answers to all of the above. Pumas, and people like us who don’t yet know they are Pumas, do not. Because we’re honest and able to address complicated questions with complicated answers and ideas. And, for the record:
The FINAL results of the 2008 Democratic Primaries and Caucuses:

Hillary R. Clinton: 17,857,446 votes (48.04%)

Barack H. Obama: 17,584,649 (47.31%)

Hillary won the Democratic Primaries. And she would have knocked the socks of McCain in the general.

And she would have been a truly great president.

p.s., via mick, the number of voters not registered with either of the two major parties is at its highest level in 70 years.

If you’re a Puma too, JOIN US Today!

“What if I told you a world-famous team of genius scientists, psychologists and economists wrote down the best techniques for GOTV scripting?!?! Would you be interested in at least taking a look? Of course you would!!”

Moffo [the obama campaign's director of field operations] then passed along guidelines and a sample script from the Consortium of Behavioral Scientists, a secret advisory group of 29 of the nation’s leading behaviorists. The key guideline was a simple message: “A Record Turnout Is Expected.” That’s because studies by psychologist Robert Cialdini and other group members had found that the most powerful motivator for hotel guests to reuse towels, national-park visitors to stay on marked trails and citizens to vote is the suggestion that everyone is doing it. “People want to do what they think others will do,” says Cialdini, author of the best seller Influence. “The Obama campaign really got that.” (See pictures of Obama taken by everyday Americans.)

The existence of this behavioral dream team — which also included best-selling authors Dan Ariely of MIT (Predictably Irrational) and Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein of the University of Chicago (Nudge) as well as Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman of Princeton — has never been publicly disclosed, even though its members gave Obama white papers on messaging, fundraising and rumor control as well as voter mobilization. All their proposals — among them the famous online fundraising lotteries that gave small donors a chance to win face time with Obama — came with footnotes to peer-reviewed academic research. “It was amazing to have these bullet points telling us what to do and the science behind it,” Moffo tells TIME. “These guys really know what makes people tick.”

Almost everyone you ask will INSIST that they are immune to marketing messages and behavioral manipulation. And almost everyone will be lying. The human brain is susceptible to influence, there is just no two ways about it. Heck, being attuned to subtle messages and modifying our behavior in response to suggestive stimulation is the reason our brains are so dang big and our species rules the planet.

The downside to this, of course, is that when unscrupulous people learn the tricks to get inside our heads and start calling the shots for us, we can be led to do incredibly stupid things.

I actually remember how effective the “record turnout is expected” lie was at building momentum. Was it a blatant lie? Yes. Yes it was.

I got questions for you this week, Pumas. Put your thinking caps on and let’s brainstorm on effective ways of waging Brand Warfare.

(h/t Scarlet)

And for those of us who realize this, it is more specifically an unsettling Theater of the Absurd. Which means, since (obviously) it is never explicitly acknowledged by the media or the political class that the drama being acted out on the national stage is LITERALLY being “acted out” and bears no resemblance whatsoever to whatever hidden reality is in fact  happening backstage and behind the curtains, we often watch events unfolding and wonder whether we’ve lost our minds. Are there actually Americans who honestly believe that Barack Obama CARES about them? That he ran for office in order to serve the interests of the people who voted for him? That he was telling the truth when he made promises about health care and ending the war and prosecuting Bush-era war crimes? 

Are there actually grown American citizens out there who BELIEVE that the economy is improving and that good times are just around the corner when the reality facing ALL of us who didn’t start out as millionaires is UNDENIABLY grim?

Yep, I’m afraid there are. So in this particular Theater of the Absurd the players (Axelrod, Emmanuel, obama, et al) have pierced the fourth wall and engaged the audience members, lulling them (by using Machiavellian Marketing techniques) into believing that they are participants in the action. The rest of us look around nervously at the people sitting beside us in the theater and wonder, HAVE THEY LOST THEIR MINDS!?

Which is why Chris Hedge’s essay about Brand Obama is such a relief:

“Reporters, especially those on television, no longer ask if the message is true but if the pseudo-event worked or did not work as political theater. Pseudo-events are judged on how effectively we have been manipulated by illusion. Those events that appear real are relished and lauded. Those that fail to create a believable illusion are deemed failures. Truth is irrelevant. Those who succeed in politics, as in most of the culture, are those who create the brands and pseudo-events that offer the most convincing fantasies. And this is the art Obama has mastered.

–snip–

The junk politics practiced by Obama is a consumer fraud. It is about performance. It is about lies. It is about keeping us in a perpetual state of childishness. But the longer we live in illusion, the worse reality will be when it finally shatters our fantasies. Those who do not understand what is happening around them and who are overwhelmed by a brutal reality they did not expect or foresee search desperately for saviors. They beg demagogues to come to their rescue. This is the ultimate danger of the Obama Brand. It effectively masks the wanton internal destruction and theft being carried out by our corporate state. These corporations, once they have stolen trillions in taxpayer wealth, will leave tens of millions of Americans bereft, bewildered and yearning for even more potent and deadly illusions, ones that could swiftly snuff out what is left of our diminished open society.”

Amen, Brother. I’m particularly struck by how perfectly the “perpetual state of childishness” description fits the Americans who are now universally known as obots. Any grown American citizen who refers to barack obama as “My President” in all seriousness either started out with a stunted consciousness or willfully shrank his world-view back down to the size it was in second grade. I guess it’s no coincidence that the symbol of mindless obama adoration is a sweet, sticky, artificial juice with no nutritional value that is marketed to very small children.

As I highlighted yesterday:

“His administration has spent, lent or guaranteed $12.8 trillion in taxpayer dollars to Wall Street and insolvent banks . . . Brand Obama has allocated nearly $1 trillion in defense-related spending and the continuation of our doomed imperial projects in Iraq, where military planners now estimate that 70,000 troops will remain for the next 15 to 20 years. . . Brand Obama has refused to ease restrictions so workers can organize and will not consider single-payer, not-for-profit health care for all Americans.”

I’ll add to that list: Brand Obama has now made it an administration-wide policy that “human rights are an ideal, not a priority.” He has let all women know that the Freedom of Choice Act is, likewise, NOT A PRIORITY. So, to all the women democrats who insulted us, impugned our reputations, and questioned our sanity for holding firm in our belief that women’s rights and freedoms were NEVER a priority for barack obama and that voting against him in November was actually the BEST THING WE COULD DO to put a stop to Brand Obama and the corporatist cronyism we KNEW was at the heart of his empty, meaningless campaign in order to eventually win our party back for a leader like Hillary Clinton, whom we KNEW would (and IS) championing human rights and women’s freedom worldwide, we say: Join Us! 

America, we warned you. Barack Obama never was and never will be an agent of change in Washington. He is, always was, and always will be a hologram of leadership manufactured by Machiavellian Marketeers who want nothing more than to continue the de-democractization of the United States begun by Ronald Reagan. The lesson the Machiavellian Marketeers who fix elections for their corporate donors learned from the Bush era is that if the messenger eventually becomes a person reviled by the masses, as George W. Bush became,  you don’t have to change the message. All you have to do is change the Messenger.

Is it a coincidence that the word Messiah means Messenger?

Pumapac reports. YOU decide.

Dear President Obama,

Like I sooooo voted for you tell me with all this traveling are you campaigning for 2012? I am waiting for my mortgage to be paid thank you in advance!

Sincerely,

FLBarbara

Dear President Obama,

Like, hello Obama, I so like totally love you, so um, ok, I voted for you and then I quit my job and stuff, and so, like, where is all that free stuff?!?

Sincerely,

Kat In Your Hat

Dear President Obama,

I sent you all my money and I volunteered to clean 2 parks so whatz up with Everyone in your administration not paying taxes?

Sincerely your pal,

FLBarbara (again!)

Dear President Obama,

(Me again!) I voted for you and I hear there is a list of women that want to sleep with you
Can you please put my name on the list?

Sincerely your pal (again, cuz you ROCK!)

FLBarbara

Anyone watch the speech and signing? I took a pass. Reading around the web I found the reactions to be less than ecstatic:

• “Does Obama ever not speak in generalizations and happy horseshit and pandering?”
• “Obama is clueless.”
• “Obama sounds like he is always talking to 7 year olds.”
• “Where is The Travelling Salvation Show headed tomorrow? My confidence is waning. I hear stammering….clouds must be passing over the teleprompter solar panel.”
• “Obama just said smart meters would save taxpayers “ONE BILLION dollars!” No, he didn’t put his pinkie to the corner of his mouth.”

(boo-hoo! looks like the mailbags full of love letters delivered to the White House mailroom may be getting a bit lighter. Poor Bambi.)

Better get cranking on your Puma Love Letters to O’Logo! Post them here.